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The Search for Timmy Rockarm
In the small town of River Bend Over, Tootslaepuk Mim, Aria Ogost, Kimaris, Harvey Goldbergsteinowitz, and إشراق (pronounced "Ash-hrroq") have all completely uncoincidentally gathered at the River Bend Over Inn. Unacquainted with each other, they are all keeping to their own business. Suddenly, a local noble named Banor Rockarm burst through the door. Banor Rockarm looked very panicked, Kimaris and Tootslaepuk approached and began asking him about the situation. Banor explained that his son, Timmy, had gone missing. He offered a reward of 1,200 gold to whomever could bring Timmy home. Hearing that, Harveygoldbergsteinowitz spoke up and offered his help. Around the inn, Aria and إشراق became interested and asked to join the search. In agreement that a bigger group may yeild better results, they all set off into the night towards the Marsh Ruins. Thursday, 19th of September, 1204 As the group entered the Marsh Ruins, they found the head of a stuffed teddy bear lying against the base of a tree. Figuring this was as good a clue as any, they decided on a path to take and started walking. As dawn turned to night, the group set up camp to sleep until the next morning. While إشراق was in a trance during the night, she heard a mysterious howling coming from the woods. Fearing that there may be danger, she woke Aria and Tootslaepuk. Tootslaepuk went scouting and discovered five wolves descending on their camp. Knowing an attack was coming, إشراق woke everyone else up. All five members of the group fought the wolves and with little damage taken, defeated them. After the encounter, everyone decided that they should all get back to sleep. Friday, 20th of September, 1204 As the group awoke from slumber, a dark hooded figure approached them. A bit alarmed, everyone got up and began questioning whomever it was. After a short introduction, the group learned the figure was male and called himself Menkam Zer. Zer was interested in the search to find Timmy, and suggested he joined the group. After some negotiation, Kimaris and Harveygoldbergsteinowitz were open to accepting Zer into the group. إشراق and Aria were still pretty skeptical of this Zer, but allowed him to come anyway. Tootslaepuk went into the woods for a rest stop, and so the group told her she could catch up later. (إشراق left her a trail to follow) With Zer as an addition to the group, they all continued walking along the path in the Marsh Ruins. After some time, out of the bushes a ragged man tumbled onto the path. He was missing his left eye and his skin seemed to be loose and bits of his face looked as if they were peeling off. He was wheezing and coughing; the whole group was taken aback. Aria tried to heal the man, but her healing energy appeared to burn him. He was clearly under some sort of spell. After asking him how he got this way, the man mumbled something about a temple. Almost indecipherably, he said something about horrific things going on. Then, something seemed to change within him as he stammered “Get...get back!” The man’s muscles and skin bulged and rippled, his body convulsed and expanded, he looked no longer human. The group drew their weapons. Each member of the group made an effort to combat this beastly creature and after a short time, the former man exploded, oozing blood and bile all over everyone. Kimaris pissed his pants. إشراق and Harvey Goldbergsteinowitz stood still, shocked after what just occurred. Aria, disgusted by the surroundings, made an effort to search what was left of the man, but was too repulsed to touch the carcass. Instead, Zer searched through the mess and found thirty gold pieces (and promptly tossed them to Harvey Goldbergsteinowitz), as well as a map. The map showed the way to a Temple of Pelor, the place the mysterious man had mentioned. Figuring this was the best lead they had, the group decided to head to the temple. It was only a few miles away. Once they arrived, they knew it was worth investigating. In front of the old abandoned temple there was an old graveyard. The inscriptions were faded on the headstones and the stones themselves were crumbling. The dirt though in front of the graves looked loose, as if recently turned. There was a statue of a woman holding a skull in the corner. The group tried the door, but it seemed to be locked from the inside. As the group wandered looking for an entrance, the skull started to glow and crackle with a purple light. A woman’s raspy voice spoke from the skull “Leave... now!” The dirt in front of the gravestones shifted, and a skeletal hands shot from the earth. No one knew what to expect, so the group readied their weapons. Dilapidated skeletons slowly climbed out of their graves, and started shambling towards the group. With a loud clap, إشراق sent one skeleton tripping backwards. Aria finished off another skeleton, while Zer cast a huge wave of flaming energy at the glowing skull. The skull screamed in pain and zapped a streak of purple back at Zer, but a crack formed along the skull’s forehead. Tootslaepuk ran into the scene, finally finished with her rest stop, and attempted to tie the last skeleton’s arm bones together, but it collapsed to the ground and crumbled. Thinking they may be of use sometime, Tootslaepuk put the arm bones in her pack. Then, إشراق hurled an orb of force straight for the skull. The skull, once again, howled and zapped purple crackling energy back at إشراق, but it began to crack more. Aria raised her sword radiating with energy and brought it down right in the middle of the skull. The skull fell into pieces, and the purple energy dissipated. With a click, they group heard the front door unlatch. The group debated whether to enter after that strange experience, but after a bit of negotiation, Tootslaepuk decided to go in and stealthily scope it out inside. She snuck up to the door, and slipped inside. Unnoticed, she quickly checked the room. There was a woman sitting on an old throne, and three men kneeled at her feet. They were all missing their left eyes. A cage was in the far left corner and inside was a small boy child, Timmy. Tootslaepuk then signaled for Harvey Goldbergsteinowitz to enter with her. They formed a plan to get Timmy. She then asked him to signal in semaphore using his pant legs to the rest of the group to get ready to run. إشراق could understand semaphore, and signaled back that they were ready. Tootslaepuk began sneaking around the corners of the room. Harveygoldbergsteinowitz stepped out of the shadows, and said towards the men “Hello there! Would you like to buy some chocolate?” The three men stood up and turned around, taken aback. The woman sat up a bit and said “Excuse me? What do you want, exactly?” Harvey tried to keep the conversation going, to distract from Tootslaepuk sneaking around the corner. “Uh, I said, would you like to buy some chocolate?” The woman smirked a bit and said “You amuse me, little one. However, you must leave now.” Just as the woman stopped speaking, Tootslaepuk stepped on a creaky floorboard. The three men glanced about suspiciously. Harvey Goldbergsteinowitz quickly spoke up again to keep the men distracted “Uhm, sorry about that strange noise you just heard that I am completely responsible for. Shouldn’t have eaten that rabbit for lunch…” The three men took a small step backwards from him in disgust. Then, Tootslaepuk reached Timmy’s cage, and began picking the lock. Using her skill as a thief, the lock opened silently. The woman started getting slightly annoyed now, she said “You have three seconds to get out of here. One…” Harvey Goldbergsteinowitz interrupted with a bit of panic in his voice “But, don’t you want to see me do a slow tango?!” He started sashaying towards the door slowly while Tootslaepuk threw Timmy over her shoulder with one arm and began sneaking back towards the door. The woman’s voice was getting angrier “Two…” Harvey Goldbergsteinowitz was captivating the three men with his mysterious tango moves, and Tootsleapuk was feet from reaching the door. “Three!” Tootsleapuk and Harvey Goldbergsteinowitz burst out through the door, sprinting with Timmy over Tootslaepuk’s shoulder. “Run!” Tootslaepuk yelled. “After them!” shouted the woman. إشراق, Zer, Kimaris (who had put on a new pair of pants), and Aria started running back down the path through the marsh. Tootslaepuk was in the front of the group to protect Timmy, but the three men were gaining on them. Eventually, the group had to fight. Harvey Goldbergsteinowitz whipped out his crossbow and sent a critical hit right through the chest of one of the men. He crumpled to the ground. Zer drained the life out of the second. Aria drew her longsword and with glowing energy, slashed down on the last man. He continued to combat them. إشراق sent an orb of force aimed right for the man’s chest. It threw him backwards onto the ground, and he didn’t stand back up. The group looked at each other, and with a huge sigh of relief, decided to set up camp and then continue back to River Bend Over the next morning. They walked a couple more miles, and Timmy began gaining consciousness. They all set up camp and headed to sleep as the sun set in the horizon. Saturday, 21st of September, 1204 The group wakes up to the sunrise the next morning on the edge of the Marsh Ruins. Timmy is up and talking, and is eager to get back to his father. Aria and Zur tell the group that they want to head back to the temple and get rid of Helga for good. Kimaris shows a bit of interest to accompany them, but everyone decides it would be better if he came to town with the rest of the group. So, إشراق, Harvey Goldbergsteinowitz, Tootslaepuk, and Kimaris begin walking down to River Bend Over with Timmy while Aria and Zur head back down the path to defeat Helga. Once they reach the town, they head straight for Banor Rockarm's house. Banor comes out of the house and exclaims "Oh! My boy! You've found my boy!" he thanks the group profusely, and begins to take out his coin purse to pay them. Harvey tells him some about the difficult journey, and asks for a larger reward sum. Banor, so happy to have his son back, agrees to give them 1800 gold without argument. Everyone in the group will now get 300 gold each. After some discussion, the group agrees to let Kimaris carry the 600 extra gold that belongs to Aria and Zur until they return. Ready to go enjoy the town, everyone sets off to go do whatever they want and meet back up later tonight. Harvey Goldbergsteinowitz heads down to the market and buys some new leather armor, negotiating a lower price to pay, of course. Then, Tootslaepuk wanders down to an alchemists shop in the marketplace. She walks inside and asks the shopkeeper casually if she has any poisons that may cause death. "Hmm...well I have some potions that may help prevent it! If that's what you're looking for." the shopkeeper replies. "In that case, do you actually have any diarhetic poisons or weight loss solutions?" Tootslaepuk asks. "Oh Honey! You look perfectly fine! You don't need any of that jazz, dear." the shopkeeper replies. "It's uh, not for me." Tootslaepuk says. "Well, I do have some diarhetic power and a stem of a certain flower that causes fat-loss." the shopkeeper suggets. "Perfect! I'll take one of each." Tootslaepuk says, "but 20 gold is quite a lot for just this, how about 10?" "Mmm, that's a bit low for this product, I'm afraid not" says the shopkeeper. Tootsleapuk leans over the counter and slides her dagger out of her pack a bit, intimidatingly. "Oh my! I'd be happy to settle for 15 gold..." Tootsleapuk smiles, takes the powder and fat-burning steam, and walks out of the store. إشراق walks into the marketplace, over to a stand in the market filled with glowing rings, daggers, and other mysterious items. إشراق asks the standkeeper, a rather frail old woman, if she has anything that may be of interest to إشراق. The woman suggests she look at a newly enchated ring, it allows the wearer to communicate with animals and beasts. إشراق was greatly intrigued by this, and with a slight negotiation of the price, bought it for 100 gold. Kimaris heads over to the library, and starts working on researching a new ritual to use. Aria and Zer arrive at Helga's temple, and form a plan to defeat her. Zer decides to sneak in first and take a look around. He sees Helga up at her throne, in the dimly light chamber. Aria pokes her head through the door and notices a glemish green figure hunched over behind one of the pews, she signals it to Zer. Zer stands up wearing the half-bone mask and takes a step towards Helga. "Stop there! Who are you?" Helga asks. "I'm the last of your followers that left after Timmy, I barely made it out with my life." Zer looked around the room again and notices a black animalistic creature sitting on one of the high beams. It was a very large bat, glaring down at Zer. "Why do you glance around the room? What are you looking for?" Helga asks suspiciously. "Oh! Uh, have you remodeled lately?" Zer stammers quickly. "Ah, that would be my new pet, Bruce." Helga says proudly. "Who's that, hunched over there in the corner?" Zer asks, and hearing that he had been noticed a zombie human stands up from behind the pew. After a bit more of conversation, Helga becomes increasingly suspicious of Zer's impersonation. Zer tries to intimidate Helga, but it doesn't work. "You are not one of my followers. Leave now or I shall attack." Helga says, with an increasingly angry tone. "I'm afraid I can't do that." Zer replies, and Aria rushes in ready for a fight. Bruce the bat swoops down and begins attacking Zer and Aria, so did the zombie and Helga. After a brutal battle, Aria charges towards Helga, who is burning from Zer's black flames cast upon her, and raises her sword humming with radiant energy. Aria brings her sword down and cleaves Helga's burning flesh in two. Bruce flies away through an open window in the roof, abandoning his fallen master. Aria searches Helga's corspe and finds 22 gold, another half-bone mask, and a twisted staff. Both Zer and Aria, content with eliminating Helga, start heading back towards River Bend Over. Back in town, Harvey Goldbergsteinowitz walks over the the magical items stand, and starts up a conversation with the woman selling the mysterious items. He asks her if she would have anything to enhance his skills, and she sells him (after some negotiation over the price) a wooden cone with a hole through the middle. “I call it, ‘The Loudmouth Cone’, anyone listening to you while you speak through it will take hearing damage.” Harvey loves the idea, and pays her for the item. He starts walking out of the marketplace and heads towards the duke's mansion. Tootslaepuk ventures down to the docks, and sees a sprawled out man with a bottle of alcohol in his hand. She walks up to him and takes a swig of his drink, then puts it back in his slacken hand. Tootslaepuk knocks him lightly on the head, and the man shifts and lifts his head. "Humphh...uh..Who are you? Whaddaya want?" Tootslaepuk introduces herself and tells him "I've got two arm bones I'm looking to sell. They're enchanted by the last uh... tingle-berry magican in the realm." The man mumbles "Ohh! Yeah, I've heard of uh tingle...bones...What do you want for them?" "500 gold, each" Tootslaepuk said. "For...berry bones? What am I even gonna do with those?" The man shifted and started to roll over again. "I'd be willing to sell them for 250 gold each instead, can't find bones like these anywhere." Tootslaepuk argued. "Hmm...well I'd rather not spend the gold, but I'd be happy to trade with you. Is there anything you've been looking for?" the man asks. "Do you have any special items? Or poisons?" Tootslaepuk inquired. "Actually, I've got just the thing for you. I'd be happy to trade you two paralysing poison flasks and a serrated dagger for those uhmm tingley...magic things..." the man stammered out. "Sounds like a deal to me, here's your arm bones." Tootslaepuk said as she tossed them from her bag over to him. She put her poisons and her new dagger in her bag as she headed down towards the library. إشراق walks inside the library and sees Kimaris, she goes over and says hello. After a brief conversation, إشراق goes to research on her own. Kimaris walks further into the library, after finishing learning his ritual, and sees stacks upon stacks of books. In the center of many books is a redheaded man with glasses, the librarian. Kimaris walks seductively up to the librarian, and leaning in a little too close for comfort, asks “Could you direct me to any information on cults?” The librarian looks up, a bit startled, and replies “Uh, yes, over there on the right. Top shelf.” “Thank you” Kimaris says, and walks over to do some research on the mysterious followers of Helga that they had encountered. He finds an ancient book that may have knowledge on the cultist, but as soon as he picks it up it crumbles to pieces and falls to the floor. Disappointed, Kimaris goes looking for another book that may contain more information. After some time, he finds a small, leather bound book that references to some cults that the Elvish may have knowledge about that existed during The Sundering. Thinking that maybe the gods might know something of use, Kimaris decided to head up to the pantheon within the library. Harvey walks up to the duke’s mansion and, using the Loudmouth Cone, says “Someone let me in!” A gardener, rubbing his head a bit, asks who he is. Harvey tells him and asks to see duke Dillwort. “The duke is rather busy now, would you like an appointment?” the gardener asks. “No, it’s alright, I think he’ll want to see me.” Harvey tells him (still using the Loudmouth Cone), and the gardener goes to get the duke. “Hey Harvey!” The duke says as he comes out of the mansion in his bathrobe, “What’re you doing in town here?” Harvey gives him a chuckle and says “Just doing some house shopping, the usual.” The duke smiles “Haha, Harvey, you could probably buy my mansion! Come on inside!” Tootslaepuk goes into the library, approaches Kimaris (who is still looking for information about the mysterious cult) and puts her hand on his chest. Kimaris looks up, “Hey beautiful, did you need something?” Tootslaepuk bites her lip seductively. Kimaris says “Should we head over to the back stacks?” Tootsleapuk nods, and they stealthily walk to the back of the library. إشراق heads over there to put away a book, and notices them together. “Uh, hey ya’ll, what are you up to?” Kimaris looks a bit sheepishly up, “Would you like to join?” إشراق replies “Uh, no thanks.” and returns to her research. Tootslaepuk kneels down and with one hand in Kimaris’ pants, she slides the other into his pocket and pulls out the 600 gold he was keeping for Zur and Aria. With a kiss on the lips to Kimaris, she dashes quickly out of the library. إشراق walks up to the librarian, Gilan, who looks to be in deep concentration. She taps on his shoulder lightly and says “Excuse me?” Without looking up, he replies “Yes?” إشراق asks him if he knows of any Eladric curses, and this peaks his interest. Gilan looks up surprised “An Eladrin? I haven’t seen any Eladrin in ages!” إشراق gave him a short explanation of her situation, and why she was in this realm. He was very intrigued and said to her “I can’t wait to look into this, I’ll let you know if I find anything tomorrow. Just come back here to the library.” إشراق thanks him, and heads back out into town. Kimaris walks up to Malora’s shrine in the pantheon and says “Oh Great One, I have been on a long journey and crossed paths with a group of what seems to be cultists. Would you happen to know of any sorts of cults here in the realm?” This peaks Malora’s interest, and with a voice sounding like a choir of bells, her voice rings out through the pantheon “Is there anything in particular to describe these cultists?” Kimaris replies “They were all missing their left eyes, and their skin seemed to be falling to pieces in places.” “Hmm…” Malora ponders “I am familiar with these happenings. They are old, very old. Older than humanity and Palitnum. In the early days of the elves, important leaders were killed in secret and then resurrected into powerful Lich Lords who were raising armies of the undead with the intent to destroy civilization. They were stopped only with the combined power of the Priesthood of the Moon and the Shri'Landi. Don't let them get that far. They hide in the streets and the night, abducting at first the young and the old, and then assassinating the powerful so that they might ascend into power. They do so in the name of an unknown entity, but it is omnipotent. They are called the Cult of Shadow, and they are shrouded in secrets even from me and the other gods. It is my belief that if they have returned, Palitum is in grave danger. A few years ago, the Baron of the Ethia was assassinated, leaving Adrius in charge. No one was captured, but if the Cult is active again, they are surley responsible. If they are killing politicians, then they are gaining strength. How long before King Cervonous is made the next target? What will happen is Pelor's King is killed? Anarchy and civil war. Go to Hadvar's Landing and unearth any clues you may find about the killing. Stop the madness, I charge you, mortal. Stop this, and you shall be a hero." Category:The Cult of Shadows